The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1887-07-28
THE YOSEMITE.
Wild Flowers and Rocks OF Brilliant
Colors-The Matchless Scenery.

THE YOSEMITE.
Wild Flowers and Rocks OF Brilliant
Colors-The Matchless Scenery.
Says q correspondent of The albany
Journal: Nothing certainly could better
evidence refined taste and high ideal
of the true elements of beauty and sub
Unity in nature than a due apprecia-
ton of the Yosemite. The Sierra Ne
vadas. lifting their snowy heads to the
sky, give rise to the strangest fancies
as seen extending for hundred miles
or more along the line of the Southern
Pacific. The creative mind can scarce
ly contemplate the hidden mysteries
that reign within their deep businesses
witho ut many wild flight of magma
ton and constantly growing desire
to explore them. This, at least, was
the situation as regards the party in
which your humble servant is joined
in one of the most interesting and
delightful trips ever made to the Yo-
semitic. As we beheld from the car
windows these massive mountain walls
towering with such sublimitv against
the eastern sky, we determined to find
out what secret wonders they might
contain.
As a result of this determination the
next morning found us dashing away
behind span OF eager bays, destined
to these stately peaks and this far-fam-
ed valley which some writer has called
1.-The browning glory of all views on the
continent" Rapidly leaving in the
rear both the retreating plains and the
vainly pursuing cloud of dust, we soon
reached the rolling foothills that mod
erately rose up before us, brilliantly
studded with curiously- rocks.
The oddly blended tints of green. yell
low, orange, and red, AS they appeared
reflected in the morning sun from these
rocky hills. impressively forewarned
us of the interesting mineral region
which we were fast approaching. Aft
er penetrating 4 few miles into these
foothills, we entered \ mountain dis
trict altogether new in character. and
of more than passing interest. Large
beds of wild flowers, beautiful orchards
of live oak, planted by nature, and
stately pines, bearing monstrous cones,
came into view. in pleasing contrast
with the treeless hills below. Shortly
we reached the summit of an elevation
of moderate height, where panora-
ma of mountain scenery. stretching out
before us in great beauty, gave earnest
of the great feast which nature had in
store for us beyond. Here we also wit
messed the sublime spectacle of storm
in the mountains. which rising up in
majestic blackness out OF the northern
horizon, threatened terror to all con-
cerned. Before reaching us, however,
it's violence became broken by interven-
ing peaks, so that, beyond the wreck of
silk umbrella and a slight dampening
of our elated spirits, no Inconvenience
was suffered. The shades of night
were now falling with great solemnity
upon the ''pine-clad hills of the Sier-
ras. and the four pilgrims began to show
some anxiety as to the whereabouts of
the next station. Shortly after dark,
however, we succeeded in reaching q
small mountain settlement bearing the
significant if not sonorous name, Grub
Gulch.
Here we were Hospitality entertained
by an aged Kentuckian who had dig
nifty of stature of six and one-half feet.
Everything grows big in this region
from the seQuoia big trees to the inn
keepers yarns. The old gentleman,
according to his account, lived in Ken
lucky during the doubtful period of the
state, and obtained considerable noto-
.;a&x, 1T his onrociftap -
the southern faction, which latter cir
cumstance the silver-haired patriarch
made known to us with no little display
of emotion. We listened deferentially
to these tales of the war, cautiously
turning the drift of the conversation
from subjects which we could read at
leisure in Grant and Hadley, to topics of
local interest. In this way we succee d.
ed in learning, among other things,
that the clumsy name attached to this
romantic place had its origin in the cir
cumstance that number of gold pros
pectors, who had tailed In their opera
tons everywhere else, came here and
made living. There are now, how
ever, number of mines in the vicinity
in very successful operation. The prin-
cipal of these are the ..Gambetta' and
| the Surprise, both of which we visit
ed the following day while waiting for
the storm to pass over. At the Gam
BETA mines we enjoyed rare oppor-
tunity to learn in detail the process of
reducing the ore. besides obtaining a
number of fine specimens. We were
also royalty entertained at the private
residence of the superintendent. whose
wife is an accomplished lady from Lon
don. At the Red Rover and Antelope
we learned the simple art of "pros-
pecting" for gold, and also descended
| into the earth to the bottom of their
| shafts.
But the works of nature are of more
absorb NC interest in this region than
those of human enterprise. Overlook
ing these mines is high elevation
called Indian peak, at the top of which
| are two monuments used rs govern
mcnt surves signals, After 'making
the rounds" of the gold mines we set
out to make the ascent Of this noun
tain, and after somewhat laborious
climb succeeded in getting to the top.
From this commanding outlook we
were rewarded for our pa ms by a most
fascinating picture of mountain seem
cry. Far below us smooth. we'll
rounded peak of unpretending height.
covered with rich green turf and
handsomely adorned with live oak, APP
pealed to the imagination as the ideal
of pleasure resort But this grassy
mount, so refreshingly green and Sc
| happily decorated by natures careless
art, was not 'alone in its glory" The
writer counted more than fifty just
such or similar mountain lawns rising
one above another in various directions
until their outlines made up an i'm
mense latticework between Che earth
and the sky-the more distant eleva-
tons being lost in the clouds some
thirty miles away. Added to this. the
snow-clad peaks of the Sierras could
be seen glistening in the east at still
greater distance and the San joaquin
valley, as viewed between the heights,
stretched away to the west till lost In
the distant horizon. Great Aeecy